THE PRIME MINISTER -------	SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM Independence - Freedom - Happiness ---------------
No. 449/QD-TTg	Hanoi, March 12, 2013

 

DECISION

APPROVING THE ETHNIC MINORITY AFFAIRS STRATEGY THROUGH 2020

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Pursuant to the 2011-2020 socio-economic development strategy;

At the proposal of the Minister, the Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities and the Minister of Planning and Investment,

DECIDES:

Article 1. Approving the ethnic minority affairs strategy by 2020 with the following principal contents:

1. Viewpoints

- Pursuing the consistent implementation of the policy of equality, unity, mutual respect and assistance among ethnic minorities for common progress, ensuring stability, development and integration.

- Comprehensively developing socio­economic fields and prioritize infrastructure development, poverty reduction and human resource development in ethnic minority areas; gradually forming economic centers in ethnic minority areas.

- Make development investment together with the implementation of the social security policy and the harmonious settlement of people’s interests. Sustainably developing ethnic minority areas, contributing to political stability and national defense and security assurance.

- Mobilizing all investment resources for socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas with state budget allocations as a major source.

- Ethnic minority affairs and the implementation of the ethnic minority policy are the mission of the entire Party, people and army and the whole political system.

2. General objectives

Developing socio-economic fields in a comprehensive, fast and sustainable manner so as to accelerate poverty reduction in ethnic minority areas and narrow the development gap among ethnic groups; gradually reducing areas with special difficulties; to step by step forming economic, cultural and scientific centers in ethnic minority areas; developing human resources in ethnic minority areas; increasing the quantity and quality of ethnic minority cadres; consolidating the grassroots political system; and firmly maintaining the great national unity bloc and ensuring stability, national defense and security.

3. Specific objectives

- Raising people’s knowledge and develop human resources in ethnic minority areas: The rate of working-age ethnic minority people receiving training and retraining will be over 50 percent, of whom 20 percent will receive vocational training; all areas will have solid schools and houses for teachers and dormitories for students at necessary areas; 95 percent of school- age children will go to school; the student rate will reach 300 per 10,000 people; the proportion of people working in agriculture will account for around 50 percent of the total workforce.

- Ethnic minority personnel affairs: A rational proportion and structure of ethnic minority cadres must be ensured for the political system at all levels, especially the system of administrative agencies in ethnic minority areas; key positions must be held by ethnic minority people; 70 out of 100 percent of trained commune-level cadres and civil servants will possess collegial or higher degrees.

- Poverty reduction in ethnic minority areas: The number of poor households will drop four percent annually; the Northwestern, Central Highlands and Southwestern regions, central coastal areas, Eastern Truong Son and former revolutionary bases will strive to help four to five percent of ethnic minority households escape poverty every year; dilapidated houses will be eliminated, more than 70 percent of houses will meet quality standards and the average per-capita income in ethnic minority areas will quadruple the current rate; the shortage of land and water for production will be fundamentally settled; a great quantity of commodities with high economic value will be gradually manufactured for consumption and export; and the insurance policy for a number of farm commodity and products will be properly implemented.

- Infrastructure in ethnic minority areas: 100 percent of inter-commune roads will be asphalted or concreted and more than 50 percent of hard-surface village and hamlet roads will meet technical standards as stipulated in the program on building a new countryside; over 95 percent of households will have regular access to electricity; 100 percent of households will have access to hygienic water; communes will have post and telecom services; almost all villages and hamlets will have access to the Internet.

- Cultural and social affairs in ethnic minority areas: Preserving and uphold national cultural traits; 100 percent of households will have access to television; better meeting the demand of receiving radio and digital television channels; comprehensively developing ethnic minority people intellectually, morally, physically and spiritually and their sense of civic responsibility and law compliance. 100 percent of health stations meeting national standards will have doctors and health insurance policy for ethnic minority people will be properly implemented.

- Grassroots political system and defense and security in ethnic minority areas: Building the political system, enhance the great national unity bloc, ensure stability, security and national defense, social order and safety in ethnic minority areas.

- Living environment in ethnic minority areas: Minimizing losses caused by environmental incidents and natural disasters; re-arranging livestock and cattle breeding areas and latrines to ensure rural environmental sanitation.

4. Major tasks

a/ Developing education and training and improving the quality of ethnic minority human resources

Reforming education policies at all levels, expanding the teaching and learning of ethnic minority languages in general schools; renovating and improving the efficiency of nomination policies for ethnic minority students to be admitted to universities, colleges and professional secondary schools;  improving the quality and efficiency of boarding schools for ethnic minority students; expanding pre-university faculties at universities for ethnic minority students; and formulating suitable support policies for ethnic minority pupils and students at each education level, giving priority to areas with special difficulties.

Diversifying and quickly developing different forms of training, re-training and vocational training in ethnic minority areas; prioritizing on-the-job training and introducing vocational training programs into boarding schools; developing the models of vocational training schools associated with enterprises for ethnic minority students to meet local socio-economic development requirements, prioritizing the training of children in ethnic minority areas, mountainous, border, remote and deep-lying areas.

Attaching special importance to discovering, training and re-training high-quality ethnic minority human resources. Organizing information technology training and re­training program for grassroots leaders in ethnic minority areas to meet the requirements of the new context.

Forming a contingent of ethnic minority workers, entrepreneurs and intellectuals with good health, professional knowledge and industrial working style, thus meeting the requirements of the industrialization and modernization period. Implementing training and retraining models and programs to raise skills and form a new generation of farmers who are capable of applying scientific and technological advances and adapting to the market mechanism in ethnic minority areas.

Implementing rotation and incentive policies to attract good scientists and managers to work in socio-economic development in highland and border communes and areas with special difficulties.

b/ Building a contingent of ethnic minority cadres

Performing good tasks in planning, training, retraining, fostering, use and treating of ethnic minority cadres. Developing a contingent of capable, talented and intellectual ethnic minority leaders to meet the requirements and tasks of the new period.

Rearranging the training goals of universities and vocational training schools in the northern mountainous, Central Highlands and Southwestern regions to enhance the training and retraining of ethnic minority officials and human resources. Simultaneously studying the building of the Ethnic Minority Affairs Institute specializing in training intellectuals and cadres for ethnic minority areas to meet the requirements of the cause of national industrialization and modernization.

Prioritizing job placement for ethnic minority pupils and students after graduation.

c/ Developing production and accelerating hunger eradication and poverty reduction in ethnic minority areas

Structuring the economy toward lowering the proportion of agriculture and increasing the proportions of industries and services; adopting a livelihood changing and employment generation policy to stabilize and improve the living conditions of ethnic minorities. Effectively implementing the vocational training and labor export program in ethnic minority areas.

Bringing into play comparative advantages and establishing zones specialized in producing goods such as coffee, cashew nuts, pepper, rubber, tea and timber for export in ethnic minority areas in the Central Highlands. Developing zones specialized in commercial maize cultivation for domestic animal feed production, developing hi-tech flowers and vegetables as well as farms for concentrated breeding of buffaloes, cows and pigs in a number of ethnic minority areas in the northern mountainous region; formulating policies to attract investment in processing industry to increase the value of spearhead products. Developing rice production with the establishment of large-scale intensive cultivation zones and develop fruit trees to form concentrated goods production areas, and combining export with eco-garden tourism in ethnic minority areas in the southwestern region. Controlling diseases and increasing the productivity, quality and efficiency of farm products. Formulating policies to support, invest and develop the processing industry and the consumption of ethnic minority products.

Creating an equal opportunity for ethnic minority people to access development resources and benefit from social welfare and services; creating a favorable environment to attract all resources in rural and agricultural development, especially investment from small- and medium- sized enterprises employing more ethnic minority workers; fundamentally settling the shortage of and disputes over production and housing land for ethnic minorities, particularly in the Northwestern, Central Highlands and Southwestern regions.

Focusing resources on well implementing programs supporting ethnic minority areas such as housing and planning of poor households and those living in flood-prone areas and along the river and stream banks toward stability and sustainable development.

d/ Developing socio-economic infrastructure in ethnic minority areas

Concentrating resources on developing socio-economic infrastructure in ethnic minority areas with the primary focus on completing the construction of roads connecting goods production areas with the centers of communes, villages and hamlets; ensuring electricity, water works, schools, health stations and markets; arranging local residents to facilitate development; and restricting free migration.

Developing a synchronous transmission infrastructure to ensure the provision of radio, television, telecommunications and information technology services to meet ethnic minority people’s production and daily-life needs.

dd/ Comprehensive socio-cultural development in ethnic minority areas

- Improving the quality of healthcare and medical services

Raising the capacity and quality of medical examination and treatment and provide medical services of communal health stations and district and provincial hospitals to ensure equality and effectiveness in ethnic minority areas. Well implementing health insurance policy for ethnic minorities. Strongly developing preventive medicine for the prevention of possible large disease outbreaks. Continuing the control and prevention of HIV transmission and strongly developing traditional medicine in combination with modem medicine.

Formulating and implementing a strategy on improving health and height for ethnic minority adolescents. Well implementing the population and family planning policy, especially in very small ethnic minority groups.

Well implementing the gender equality and women advancement policy, care for and protect the rights of ethnic minority children; ensuring citizens’ rights to freedom of religion and belief in accordance with law; improving the quality of the movement of entire people unity to build a new cultural lifestyle.

- Comprehensively developing ethnic minority culture: Formulating a policy to preserve and promote cultural identity, languages, scripts, customs, beliefs and fine traditions of ethnic minority groups; increasing the time and quality of television and radio programs in ethnic minority languages; building the system of grassroots cultural institutions in ethnic minority areas together with historical relics in each region and locality; continuing the renovating management mechanisms and stepping up the socialization of cultural and information fields; improving the quality of propagation against superstition, moral and lifestyle degradation.

e/ Improving political system quality and consolidating rural security in ethnic minority areas

Building and boosting the effectiveness of Party and mass organizations’ activities in each village and hamlet with immediate focus on reviewing and ending the situation that there are still ethnic minority villages and hamlets without Party organizations and members.

Continuing the strengthening and raising of quality of grassroots cadres and paying attention to discovering resources, planning and training ethnic minority cadres, particularly in the Northwestern, Central Highlands and Southwestern regions and central coastal areas.

In the coming years, sending more capable and qualified cadres to work in ethnic minority areas, especially those of special defense and security importance; properly implementing the policy to involve village patriarchs and prestigious people in inspecting and supervising the implementation of policies, programs and projects for ethnic minority areas under the motto “people know, people discuss, people do and people examine”; mobilizing ethnic minorities to comply with the Party’s policies and state laws to prevent hostile forces’ plots to undermine the national unity.

Firmly building up the entire people defense posture and people’s security, proactively grasping the situation, resolving internal contradictions right at the grassroots level, and resolutely preventing the occurrence of “hot spots”. Preparing to frustrate all hostile forces’ sabotage plots, proactively preventing activities to sabotage the great national unity bloc through “peaceful evolution” and taking advantage of ethnic minority and religious affairs to deceive, lure and incite ethnic minority people.

g/ Focusing investment in the development of ethnic minority areas with special difficulties

Mobilizing and combining resources to properly implement specific policies and socio-economic development programs in poor districts and communes, villages and hamlets with special difficulties. Reviewing, supplementing and amending criteria for classifying ethnic minority and mountainous areas by development level so as to work out a policy to allocate appropriate investment resources.

Formulating a soft credit loan policy for developing goods production and services; policies for changing livelihoods and settling the shortage of water for production and daily life of ethnic minorities in mountainous, highlands and border areas with special difficulties. For ethnic minority areas with extreme production difficulties, the State should have policies to support food and necessities for people to keep their mind on preserving natural resources and safeguarding border security.

For the Northwestern, Central Highlands and Southwestern regions, to continue implementing socio-economic development policies in ethnic minority areas in line with Politburo resolutions. To focus on the settlement of housing and production land and improvement of the quality of ethnic minority human resources and grassroots political system.

h/ Ensuring water for daily use and environmental sanitation in ethnic minority areas

Assessing policies that have been implemented in clean water supply for ethnic minority areas; identifying demands and proposing policies to absolutely resolve the shortage of water for daily use and ensure sufficient water for agricultural production under planning. Adopting preferential land, tax and other policies to mobilize all economic sectors to invest in water supply to ethnic minority areas.

Assisting ethnic minority people in building sanitary and breeding facilities in accordance with criteria of the program to build a new countryside.

5. Implementation solutions

a/ Raising awareness of ethnic minority affairs: Party committees, administrations, fatherland front and socio-political organizations from central to local levels should thoroughly grasp and propagate the role, position and great potential of ethnic minority areas and the Party and State’s consistent ethnic minority policies for their staffs and members and people to be fully aware of the viewpoints, targets and tasks and actively implementing the ethnic minority affair strategy in the new context.

b/ Ensuring financial sources for the implementation of the Strategy.

Adopting policies and solutions to prioritize the mobilization of resources for implementing the Strategy’s targets in which the state budget funds play a dominant and stable role for many years as well as diversifying resources from enterprises, individuals and international organizations.

Enhancing activities of banks and micro- financial institutions to supply funds for investment and production development and poverty reduction in a fast and sustainable manner in ethnic minority areas. Diversifying financial activities, providing not only loans but also insurance for production.

The Government has policies prioritizing organizations, businesses and individuals to invest in ethnic minority areas’ socio-economic development; formulates policies on payment for environmental services so as to use the proceeds from trading and exploiting natural resources for environmental rehabilitation and protection.

c/ Renovating the building and implementation of ethnic minority affairs policy

Promptly reviewing, adjusting and supplementing to complete the promulgated policies to meet development requirements of ethnic minority areas and tasks of ethnic minority affairs in a new period. Concretizing the Strategy by long-term programs, projects and policies by 2020 and the following years with actual capacity and resources for implementation.

During the implementation process, making public policies, programs, projects and investment capital for people in ethnic minority areas to take part in the management, supervision and contribution of opinions; strengthening the inspection and evaluation of the completion of promulgated policies’ targets so as to make timely adjustments and supplementations and devise suitable policies.

d/ Strengthening and improving the effectiveness of state management agencies in charge of ethnic minority affairs

Paying attention to strengthening and building the system of organizations and agencies specialized in ethnic minority affairs from central to local levels.

Building and instructing the implementation of the administrative reform program and boosting the application of information technology in the management and operation of the system of ethnic minority affairs agencies at all levels.

Article 2. Organization of implementation

1. The Committee for Ethnic Minorities shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and sectors in building the Government’s action program to implement this Strategy; ensuring the combined implementation of the targets of the Strategy and the ten-year socio-economic development strategy during 2011-2020, and the central and local five-year and annual socio­economic development plans; and submit it to the Prime Minister in early 2013.

2. Based on the targets of the Strategy and the Government’s action program to implement the Strategy, the Committee for Ethnic Minorities shall guide ministries, sectors and provincial-level People’s Committees in elaborating action programs to implement the Strategy in accordance with their tasks and competence; and send annual reports to the Committee for Ethnic Minorities.

3. The Committee for Ethnic Minorities shall assume the prime responsibility for and coordinate with related ministries and sectors and provincial-level People’s Committees in guiding, examining and summarizing the implementation of the Strategy to make annual reports to the Prime Minister; and organize the preliminary review of the implementation of the Strategy in 2015 and the final review of the implementation of the Strategy in 2020.

Article 3. This Decision takes effect on its signing date.

Article 4. Ministers, heads of ministerial level and government-attached agencies, and chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees are liable to execute this Decision.-

 

PRIME MINISTER Nguyen Tan Dung

 

 

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